Dr. Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy and Founding Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. Asma is the author of ten books, including Why We Need Religion (Oxford University Press, 2018), The Evolution of Imagination (University of Chicago Press, 2017), On Monsters: an Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears (Oxford, 2009), and The Gods Drink Whiskey (HarperOne, 2005). He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Aeon.

He discusses how his recent book, "The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition" (with Rami Gabriel) informs his approach to teaching at the intersection of philosophy, religion, technology, and monsters. Yes, monsters.